Victor, you have been sales director for more than two years. What have been your greatest challenges and achievements during that time?
One of my greatest challenges was to establish consistent business development expertise across 14 locations and 11 time zones, supporting our advisers globally in developing and growing their businesses. To achieve this we needed to introduce uniform processes and systems to deliver consistent performance. Some significant enhancements to the sales function were also made, including increasing its size to create a more culturally diverse team and one better equipped to deliver our strategy.
Understanding our advisers’ challenges has been key. Early analysis of our core markets convinced me that commission disclosure is inevitable, and would have a huge impact on our core advisers with a global shift to new adviser models. One of the most helpful things we could do for our distributors was to focus on helping them get ahead of the curve, to transform their businesses so they would be sustainable in the future. This stimulated innovations such as our Practice Management proposition, which provides a highly targeted blueprint to help forward-thinking advisers build substantial long-term value into their businesses.
Looking back over 2013, are there any stand-out moments for Skandia International?
2013 has been a successful year for us, even allowing for more bullish markets in some of our key territories.
Much of our growth is triggered by the initiatives of the past couple of years, in particular our success in growing our core distribution base and opening up new channels in Latin America and South Africa.
We have seen renewed demand for single premium portfolio bond products globally, particularly in South Africa, Europe and Asia. Our new product launches in Latin America, South Africa, Singapore and the UK have also played a part in helping us build strong sales momentum in these regions.
As widely reported, the past few years have been challenging for product providers, however advisers have felt headwinds, too. What does Skandia International do to support advisers?
Our research showed advisers want more sophisticated and specialist support from their providers. They really value technical expertise to guide them on complex cases, help in marketing and business development, as well as support in developing e-commerce and investment strategies such as model portfolios.
Over the past 24 months, we have invested heavily in modernising the support we provide to meet advisers’ demands and this has included a number of initiatives.
We launched Practice Management, a development programme that independently assesses the potential within an adviser business. It then creates a blueprint, helping the business transition to its optimum model of profitability and sustainability, with growing revenues and significantly improved embedded value. Having launched last year, we now have 40 adviser firms involved.
We have also expanded our global technical sales team, our dedicated team of tax planning and technical experts, and improved our award winning in-field tech support. Advisers can also access Knowledge Direct, our online technical hub, containing specialist information on taxation, trusts, inheritance and retirement planning.
Recognising the importance of e-commerce in today’s advice model, we recruited a team of regionally based e-business specialists to help advisers design and implement e-commerce strategies and initiatives. They work with advisers to maximise the value of our Wealth Interactive service and its capabilities to power their own e-commerce business model. They also support advisers in developing and executing their own e-commerce initiatives such as website optimisation.
We introduced an investment consultancy offering to support advisers in implementing model portfolio investment strategies, a critical success factor in new adviser models.
Advisers consistently tell me that they value accessible expertise and my team plays a key role in delivering technical insights as well as helping advisers identify opportunities to grow their business.
In September 2013, advisers voted us best in 16 categories at the International Adviser awards, far more than any other provider and a clear sign that we are getting a lot right.
Why is it important to Skandia International that advisers build sustainable businesses?
A high-quality, sustainable adviser sector is essential for the long-term benefits of our customers, both current and future, around the world.
Where do you see the opportunity in the African continent and, conversely, where do the challenges lie?
We have strong sales in South Africa and a number of long-standing adviser relationships in countries such as Kenya and Mauritius. The Sub-Sahara region has much to excite with a large and growing international expatriate community and a number of the world’s fastest-growing economies, so we expect adviser firms to flourish. Establishing a high quality dedicated offering in the region for advisers will differentiate us in terms of the support and service we can deliver to adviser firms.
What do you see as the continued drivers of growth in the Middle East?
While Dubai remains our primary market, Qatar is attracting high numbers of experienced expats. This type of customer typically has more complex planning needs, providing excellent growth prospects for quality adviser firms. This plays strongly into our areas of expertise too, so it’s no surprise that we are making good progress locally with the leading adviser firms.
How do the products you sell differ in the different markets in which you operate?
We tailor many of our products for different markets and obviously language and regulation are fundamental requirements. The differentiating aspects are how you shape your service offering, distribution strategy, proposition and packaging to connect better with local customers and advisers. To do this effectively, you must understand each of your markets and that’s where having top class, highly experienced local operators holds us in good stead.
Before you joined Skandia you built a consultancy business advising wealth managers and platform providers on global distribution and business development. What lessons did you learn from that experience?
It was a great experience and I’m privileged to have worked alongside some of our industry’s greatest leaders as well as industry innovators and pioneers. My experience of establishing and running a successful business means I have much more empathy with business owners. I learned a lot, most of all that commitment makes the difference between being well intentioned and delivering on the things that matter.
What goals would you like to achieve for the business this year?
We know from speaking to advisers in all jurisdictions there is a growing demand for online solutions, something that will be a key deliverable for us this year. Wealth Interactive, our innovative end-to-end wealth management service, will continue to be rolled-out during 2014, and will transform the way we work with advisers.
It will provide a platform for growth going forward, and help us service and support new product initiatives across different territories, and enable initiatives to be rolled out across all territories more succinctly.
We are planning a number of regional specific developments to enhance our wealth planning offering for both local and expatriate clients. We will continue to focus on our customers, developing strong partnerships with distributors and supporting the development of proprietary products with added value, which give customers the right outcomes.
As a business we are well placed to grow our sales and build our presence in all the regions we operate in. I am particularly excited about the opportunities we have in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and the strong team we have put in place looks set to deliver some interesting initiatives.
